Landscapes have hidden faces waiting to be discovered. This article
is the result of a voyage of discovery embarked upon after finding a
World War II structure lurking in a English field.

The great historical geographer
W. G. Hoskins said that the British landscape was the result of man rather
than nature. We have been changing our environment since the invention
of agriculture in post Ice-age Britain. The rolling hills of Surrey show
a domesticated charm of coppiced woods and patchwork-quilted fields nicely
trimmed with hedges. It is a landscape we can feel comfortable with as
it wraps us in a rural dream of rose-covered cottages.

One day, while lost in country
lanes between the A25 and the A246, I noticed a relic of the Second World
War squatting toad-like in a field. The incongruity of the pillbox and
its site stuck in my mind, a mental itch waiting to be scratched.

Local history is a field full
of mushrooms waiting to be picked and eaten, and the pillbox proved to
be a mushroom of platter size. The first clue regarding the pillbox came
in a new book being produced by Graham Collyer and David Rose using material
from the archives of the Surrey Advertiser, namely "Guildford: The war
years 1939-45". A whole chapter is devoted to the pillboxes under the
guise of the GHQ Stop Line that dotted our landscape "from Kent to Somerset,
and from the Thames estuary to the Wash". It was created to stop Hitler
in his advance across our green and pleasant land if he had managed to
pass the barrier of the Channel and invade our shores. In the words of
Messrs Collyer and Rose "Constructed rapidly on what was a shoestring
budget, its aim, in the event of an invasion, was to slow down the first
wave of enemy motorised columns while giving precious time for reserve
troops to arrive."

In winter our gardens sleep,
and the leafless trees reveal the wider landscape to our eyes. It seemed
a good time to chase the GHQ Stop Line across Surrey, working out the
reasons for their locations. I went back to that first lone pillbox in
a field at Combe Bottom, Combe Lane (OS Landranger series 187, grid reference
TQ 067486). From Combe Lane you get a clear view of the structure; however,
a green lane off the metalled road leads you to the back of it. This green
lane is well hidden by high banks populated with trees. Visions of 'Dad's
Army' characters going up it with leafy twigs in their helmets as extra
camouflage, on route to sentry duty at the pillbox, sprang to mind. You
can enter it by clambering up the slope and carefully manoeuvring yourself
into the opening, partially blocked by trees less than fifty years old.
Inside it is dry and sound. It does get visited from time to time as the
beer bottles on the floor testify to. You can lean on the wide ledges
made for the guns and look out over the Surrey countryside; they give
a clear view across the A25 to Albury Park. It would have controlled access
to three of the roads traversing the North Downs heading for London between
Guildford and Dorking.

Crossing the A25 trunk road
you enter an area liberally dotted with G.H.Q Stop Line structures. East
Shalford Lane has a large pillbox designed to accommodate an anti-tank
gun as well as Bren guns. This meant that it has a very large opening
where the anti-tank gun would have been fired from, and a correspondingly
large opening at the back so that the soldiers would survive firing it!

Now the front opening looks
at a tree, but if it were removed you would see that the sight line was
intended for the bridge crossing the Tillingbourne River. Assuming the
main roads would be fiercely defended, these structures would stop the
German Army's motorcades from flanking the defenders using the country
lanes. My accompanying war expert assured me that some of the major campaigns
on the continent (The Ardennes) were fought over similar terrain.

The idea of tanks and men moving
up the winding lanes was not so ludicrous as all road transport would
have travelled up similar routes. The East Shalford pillbox perches halfway
up a slope covered in trees. You can get to it by walking across a boggy
field or by using the footpath going up the slope and then following the
tree-lined brow and dropping down the slope to reach it. The boggy route
is shorter but requires stout waterproof footwear.

The third pillbox we visited
was at Halfpenny Lane, on the rise up from Chilworth Manor and on route
to Guildford. It has gun sights covering the lane in three places. This
one still has metal faces on the windows for the Bren guns. It is not
hidden by any undergrowth and is easy to reach across a field.

In C. Alexander's work titled "The G.H.Q. line: Pillbox defence line of
1990", held at the Surrey History Centre in Woking, he tells us that the
actual siting of the pillboxes was the task of Officers from the Royal Artillery
and seemed to have been haphazardly done. The defence line was established
along waterways, on higher ground and natural strong points. Individual
pillboxes were sited from visual considerations, a rough field of fire was
determined and the direction in which the pillbox would have to face established.
If the contractor pointed out a reason why it could not be built, it was
moved to a more convenient location. Trees, bushes, scrub and other obstructions
to the field of fire were removed during construction. This publication
also gives important information regarding the conception of the line. It
had been put forward in Operation Instruction No.3 by General Edmund Ironside,
Commander-in-Chief of Home Forces. He presented it to the Chiefs of Staff
on June 25th 1940. The plan consisted of a three-tier system of home defence.
They were coastal defences along 500 miles of probable invasion beaches,
with infantry divisions devoted to them. Stop lines and nodal points set
behind coastal regions and extending up to fifty miles inland; and the G.H.Q
anti-tank defence line, a fixed line of continuous anti-tank traps and obstacles
supported by pillboxes. This carefully sited line being set fifty miles
behind the south and east coasts, with a G.H.Q. Reserve of three infantry
and one armoured division deployed behind it.

As the fascinating story
of this ingenious defence of our land began to unfold I realised that
we have a precious relic of the Second World War in our midst. Our very
own Maginot Line hidden in the landscape. What was being done to protect
this little known treasure? Chris Shepeard of the Surrey Industrial
History Group said that the G.H.Q. Stop Line has not yet been scheduled
for protection. There are an estimated two thousand sites across Surrey
and until a survey has been completed they will remain unlisted. This
is due to the desire to only list the best examples within such a plethora
of riches.

The 'Defences of Britain'
Survey was started in 1990 and is held at Duxford, Cambridge and those
parties involved in finding the relics report them there; and also in
the case of Surrey, to County Hall. Surrey has chosen to protect two
pillboxes, as they have become the habitats of rare bats.

From time to time planning
applications are made regarding sites containing remnants of the Stop
Line and then County Hall gets in touch with those involved in the Surrey
Defence Survey team. They then report back to County Hall regarding their
findings. Sometimes permission is given to destroy the item concerned.
In one case, the new student village in Farnham, the contractor lived
to regret it as it took five days and much heavy machinery to destroy
a pillbox.

I hope that some of this wonderful
and inventive defence system gets protected under the law. We often hear
people going on about the War, and here is a chance to save a relic of
it for future generations, an inventive answer by our 'make do' and impoverished
grandfathers to a fearful future. Do not let us lose it through short-sightedness.